Outcry at choice between abortion or husband’s job
Print Edition
The case of a 41-year-old woman considering an abortion at 8 months because the child would violate China’s one-child policy and cost her husband his government job has caused a public outcry.
Members of the public have been phoning local officials in the couple’s Yunnan Province community to ask about the case, and an online travel service is said to have offered the husband a position if he loses his job as a policeman.
The case has rekindled debate over whether employment in the public sector should be used to enforce the one-child policy.
The woman, surnamed Chen, said yesterday that the couple felt under pressure to abort their second child to keep her husband’s job with the local police.
Wen Xueping, a family planning official in Yunnan’s Chuxiong Prefecture, said the couple will not be forced to abort the baby but have been warned of the consequences of having it. Couples who violate the child policy face hefty fines and — if they have government jobs — face being sacked.
Wen said members of the public had been calling his office to inquire about the couple, whose case has garnered much attention on China’s social media.
News website The Paper said web travel service Ctrip had offered the man a job if he loses his position.
Many critics are calling for an end to the one-child policy, saying that China cannot afford to be an aging society.
They say that taking away a family’s livelihood is too draconian a punishment — especially for a family who will now have two children to raise.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
